


Don't You Ever Fear, I'm Always Near

by acindra



Series: Two Gays and a Baby [1]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 07:31:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11203311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acindra/pseuds/acindra
Summary: “You would deny the father of your child some innocent hand holding?” Michael asked, faux shocked, as he laced his fingers through Jeremy’s. “You’re a cruel person, Jeremy Heere.”(Michael and Jeremy spend a week taking care of an electronic baby doll for their Home Economics class)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Also known as 'Two Gays and a Baby'

**Monday**

It was Monday afternoon and the school day was almost over.

Jeremy and Michael were in Home Economics.

“Alright class, we’re going to have a little bit of a project this week. Pick a partner, preferably of the opposite sex.”

Michael turned to Jeremy, eyebrows raised in question.

Jeremy shrugged and stayed in his seat beside him.

Their teacher sighed but didn’t say anything to Michael’s smug look. “Settle down,” they demanded, as the class devolved into talking.

As the class quieted down, they pulled a doll out of the box on their desk.

The kids who were closer to the front of the classroom groaned.

“We’re going to be taking care of infants this week.” They announced, brandishing the doll.

The rest of the class joined in the groaning.

“So have one of your group come up here and I’ll provide you with your baby and supplies so we can get started.” Their teacher passed a stack of papers to a nearby student. “Everyone needs a form, as well.”

Jeremy got up and went to peruse the babies.

“Get a tan one cuz I’m not white!” Michael called after him.

Jeremy raised a hand in acknowledgement.

The forms got around to Michael before Jeremy had gotten through the crowd for the babies.

The form gave a basic description of the project and had a short section of questions such as their names, their baby’s name, their expectations for the project, and how the project went compared to said expectations (to be filled out after the project was over).

“I hope you weren’t dead set on having a boy because there was only a tan girl left.” Jeremy informed him, taking his seat and setting down the baby doll, 2 straps, a spare cloth diaper, and a baby bottle.

“I will love any child you can provide me.” Michael told him, solemnly.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. 

Michael picked up the baby and cradled it in his arms. “She’s beautiful.”

Their teacher called for their attention again and began showing them examples on how to hold the baby, as well as how to feed, burp, and change its diaper. They instructed everyone to put a strap on their hand that would electronically tell the baby if it was being held by one of the students so they couldn’t pawn the infant care off on one of their parents. They reminded the class that they were supposed to take ‘their baby’ out to public places and take pictures as evidence that they had been there.

“Don’t forget to pick out a name.” Their teacher told them as the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. 

“Hey so you should just like stay over this week. My parents are off at a conference so I have the house to myself and it’ll probably be easier to take care of our baby if we’re together.” Michael suggested as they packed up.

“That's convenient. Sure- we should stop by my place, though, so I can pack some clothes and tell my dad.”

“Awesome. Oh let me get the door for you.”

Jeremy put the baby against his shoulder and exited the classroom. “Thanks.”

-

As they made their way out of the school, Michael caught Jeremy’s free hand in his.

“What are you doing.” Jeremy almost shrieked, causing the few people still loitering outside the halls to stare. He blushed and turned his eyes to the baby instead as he tried to jerk his hand away from Michael’s.

“You would deny the father of your child some innocent hand holding?” Michael asked, faux shocked, as he laced his fingers through Jeremy’s. “You’re a cruel person, Jeremy Heere.”

“First of all, who says you’re the dad?”

“Well, we’re both technically the dad, aren’t we?”

“Second of all, must you do this at school.”

“It’s the end of the day! Everyone’s gone.” Michael told him. 

They passed by a group of girls who giggled at them as they passed.

“Well, almost everyone.” he conceded. “Loosen up, they don’t matter anyways.”

Jeremy grimaced but stopped trying to pull away.

Michael inwardly cheered at his victory and allowed himself to enjoy holding the hand of his long-time crush.

-

When they reached Michael’s PT Cruiser Michael mercifully let go of Jeremy’s hand.

They got inside and Michael popped in a CD mix tape he had made the night before.

“ _So whatever tomorrow brings_  
I’ll be there  
With open arms and open eyes, yeah

_So if I decide to waiver my chance to be one of the hive_  
Will I choose water over wine  
And hold my own and drive”

He sang along, glancing at Jeremy and grinning.

“That’s a little on the nose, isn’t it?”

Michael shrugged. “Shush, it’s a good song. Anyways, we should be thinking of a name for our precious bundle of joy.”

“Elizabeth?”

“Too old-timey.”

“Charlotte?”

“We’re not naming her after a spider.”

“Sofia?”

“I have a cousin named Sofia.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. But she’s a bitch.”

“Well you come up with some names then.”

“Holly?” Michael asked as the song changed.

Jeremy grimaced as he suddenly recognized the song and turned to glare at Michael. “No.”

“Why not.”

“We are not naming our baby girl after your Weezer obsession.”

Michael pretended to clutch at his chest in indignation with one hand. “ _Say it ain’t so._ ” he crooned.

“Stop.”

“Well I guess Beverly is out, too, then.”

“I want a divorce.”

Michael gasped. “How very dare you.”

“Can you think of a serious baby name, please? Just one?”

Michael hummed thoughtfully. “How about… Stella?”

“Stella? It’s a pretty name.”

“I’m pretty sure it means Star in latin.” Michael informed him. “Because you’re my sun and she is my little star.”

“That’s ridiculously sappy, dude.”

“Doesn’t make it any less true.”

Jeremy nodded to himself. “I like it. Stella. Hello, Stella.” he told the doll.

Michael looked over and his heart hurt at how tenderly Jeremy was looking at the doll.

When they reached Jeremy’s house, Michael stopped him before he could exit the car.

“Lemme juuuust.” He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture.

“What was that for?” Jeremy asked, blinking.

“If we really had just had a child I would never stop taking pictures of the two of you. I’d want to have a record of everything beyond my memory so I could look back on it when I’m old and grey. I’d probably make a scrapbook. This one would be captioned ‘First trip home with Jeremy and Stella.’” 

“You’re awfully sentimental. Though that’s not so surprising I guess.”

“Ain’t nothing wrong with that. And anyways, we’re supposed to have evidence we did ‘normal things’ with Stella in our care.”

“I think our teacher meant taking pictures of us with Stella at the grocery store, not me holding her.”

“Well I’ll just take a tonne more. Here, I’ll hold Stella while you go get your shit.”

Jeremy passed over the doll and Michael took it gently, making sure to support its head.

He watched Jeremy make his way into his house.

“You know, Stella. I love your father, but that boy is dense as custard and straight as a ruler.” He said, shaking his head. “Not that I’m saying it’s bad for you to be straight. You can be whatever you want and you’ll be wonderful at it. You are perfect just the way you are.” he cooed. “I just wish there was a little hope for me, yanno?” He hugged the doll to himself. 

If he closed his eyes he could almost convince himself that he was married to Jeremy, holding their newborn baby.

He stayed like this until Jeremy returned, startling him when he opened the door.

“Sorry it took so long, my dad was telling me about some baby stuff.” he said, slinging his duffle bag onto the floorboards and accepting the baby doll back from Michael.

“It’s cool.” He started up the car again and pulled out of the driveway.

“He recommended we swaddle the doll in a blanket because it gets cold in your basement and our teacher said it detected temperature.”

“That’s a good idea. But how do you swaddle an infant?”

“I don’t know, dude. We could wrap it like a burrito?”

“But you can’t turn it upside down.”

“Why not.”

“Dude. It’s a baby.”

“I mean we won’t be having it upside down for very long. Just long enough to roll it up.”

Michael gave him an incredulous look. 

“I think we should probably just google it when we get home.”

Michael nodded; he felt a swell of emotion at Jeremy calling his house home.

-

When they got to Michael’s house, the first thing they did was google how to swaddle an infant.

“See!” Michael crowed triumphantly. “You don’t turn the baby over!”

“Whatever. Here, take Stella. I have a blanket we can use.” He dug through the duffle bag and produced a small dark blue blanket with little cartoon dolphins blowing water out of their blowholes and smiling on it.

“That is the cutest fucking thing I have ever seen.”

Jeremy blushed. “It’s my baby blanket. My dad got it out of the linen closet for me.”

“Aww. Are there pictures of baby Jeremy in his dolphin blankie. Can I see them? Please?” Michael made puppy eyes at him.

“I don’t fucking know.”

Michael didn’t relent on the puppy eyes. “Pleeease?”

“I said I don’t know. Ask my dad sometime.”

“I will!”

“I know.” Jeremy said, dryly. “Anyways, let me just…” he laid out the blanket on Michael’s bed so it looked like a diamond. He folded the top corner down and gestured for Michael to place the baby doll on it.

They wrapped the blanket across the baby then stood back to admire their work.

Michael took out his phone and snapped another picture. “Baby’s first swaddle.” he informed Jeremy, who snorted.

“Hey. Is there a place we can put it?” Jeremy asked, looking around.

“What do you mean?”

“Well what do we do with it when we go to sleep?”

“Hmm.” He looked around, as well. “Oh! I know.” Michael went to his dresser and pulled out the middle drawer which held his socks and underwear. He shoved the contents around until they looked more like a nest than anything resembling organization. 

Jeremy carried the baby doll over. “That’s perfect!” he set the doll down. “Want to play some games then do our homework?”

“Yeah!”

-

About twenty minutes later they were startled by the baby doll suddenly crying.

Loudly.

Their characters died on the screen.

Michael jumped up and picked up the doll, rocking it like their teacher had showed them. “Shh, Stella, it’s ok.”

“Maybe she’s hungry?”

“Oh! I have the bottle in my bag.”

Jeremy retrieved the bottle and handed it over.

Michael sat down on his bed and ‘fed’ Stella. “Hey, could you take my phone out of my pocket and take a picture?”

“I still don’t know why you’re doing this, but I’ll humor you.” Jeremy informed him. “Which pocket?”

“Pants- on the right.”

Jeremy sighed. He leaned down and stuck a hand into Michael’s pocket, fishing for his phone.

Michael’s breath caught in his throat at the proximity.

Jeremy pulled out his phone and backed up so he could frame the picture.

Michael smiled for the camera.

“Do you want me to take another one when you burp her?” Jeremy asked when the doll stopped crying.

“Yeah!” Michael removed the bottle from the baby doll’s mouth and repositioned it on his shoulder. He rubbed the doll’s back.

“What are you doing?”

“Burping the baby?”

“You’re supposed to pat it.” Jeremy mimed the motion.

Michael frowned. “My mom swears rubbing the back is better. Also I’m a little afraid to set off the shaken baby syndrome thing.”

Jeremy shook his head. “Our teacher specifically said we had to pat it. I’ll do it if you want.”

They traded the doll and Michael’s phone.

Jeremy patted the baby gently but firmly on the back and Michael snapped a picture.

The doll made a small burping noise and went silent again.

“I think we’re good.” Jeremy announced.

“Cool. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“Famous last words. Our teacher said some of the babies have colic and cry intermittently for no reason.” 

Michael grimaced. “Well, I hope our Stella doesn’t have that, that’d suck for all three of us.”

-

Their next interaction with the doll came while they were in the middle of making dinner.

Jeremy had decided to make a stir fry while Michael made rice and a salad to go with it.

Stella was laid down on a pillow from the couch, placed on the dining room table where they would be able to see and hear if anything went wrong.

“She probably needs her diaper changed since we fed her last time.” Jeremy reasoned, picking up the doll and returning to the stove so he could make sure the food didn’t catch on fire.

“Probably. I’ll go get the other one.” Michael slipped out of the room and headed to his basement room.

“Please don’t have colic, Stella.” Jeremy begged, over the sound of her crying. He turned off the stove; the food was pretty much done already.

Michael was back in a jiffy, carrying both the spare diaper and the baby bottle. “Just in case.”

Jeremy set the doll down on the dining table and unwrapped the blanket. Then he slowly went through the process of changing the cloth diaper.

“Ta Da” he said with a flourish as he closed the safety pin.

Michael snapped a picture then went to plate their food.

Jeremy rolled his eyes but didn’t comment. He just re-bundled the doll and set her back on the cushion. He went back into the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Just water.” Michael finished plating their food and set down their plates on the side of the table that the doll was not on. “And utensils.”

They sat down to eat next to each other, so Michael took another picture.

“That one didn’t even have Stella in it.” Jeremy complained, stabbing at a piece of bell pepper.

“The couple’s first dinner with the baby.” Michael informed him. 

Jeremy blushed.

“I told you- if we had just gotten a baby I would document everything.”

“I guess.”

-

Later they were doing their homework when Stella cried again.

“Should we try feeding her or changing her diaper?” Jeremy asked, picking up the doll.

“I guess feed her because we just changed her diaper at dinner.”

Jeremy grabbed the bottle from where they had stashed it on Michael’s desk and tried ‘feeding’ the doll.

After a solid minute of the baby doll still crying he tried changing its diaper. But it continued to cry.

“I guess you should just rock her. Didn’t our teacher say that they cry to be held sometimes?”

“Yeah.”

So he rocked the doll. “Please stop crying I don’t know what you want.” He begged it in a sing-song voice.

Luckily for them, the doll stopped crying shortly after.

“Oh thank god.” Michael said, “I was really worried for a second there.”

“You and me, both.” Jeremy yawned as he put the doll back in the drawer. 

“Sleepy?”

“Taking care of fake babies is exhausting.” Jeremy joked.

“Do you want to go to bed early?”

Jeremy looked at their homework spread out on Michael’s desk. “I get the feeling we won’t be getting a lot of sleep this week, so we should probably do our homework.”

“You could always take a nap now and I’ll wake you up in a little bit?” Michael suggested.

Jeremy shook his head. “I’m not that tired, I think.”

“Well. Back to the grind, then?”

-

Things went downhill from there.

Stella started crying more frequently as the night wore on, wanting to be rocked.

“I think she does have colic.” Michael concluded as he rocked the crying doll. “Our teacher said the babies that did would cry more at night.”

Jeremy groaned. “Why us.”

“I feel so bad for Stella.” 

“What do you mean?”

“I googled it earlier and wikipedia says the reason babies with colic cry more is because they’re having intestinal cramping. That’s gotta hurt.”

“I mean, yeah that sucks. But Stella is just a doll.”

“I know that...” Michael got up and placed the doll back in the drawer because it had stopped crying. “Anyways, I’m tired. Let’s go to bed now.”

They changed into their sleeping clothes and Jeremy went to pull out the sleeping bag he usually used when he stayed over.

“I’m not looking forward to the back pain I’ll probably get from sleeping on your floor for an entire week.” He commented.

“Just sleep on the bed with me.” Michael told him, shrugging.

“Dude…”

“What? It’s better than being sleep deprived and uncomfortable.”

“We haven’t slept together since we were kids.”

“So? Besides. Why wouldn’t we sleep together in this instance- we’re married. And there’s no way I’m raising Stella in a broken household. We will work that shit out if it kills us.”

Jeremy couldn’t really come up with a good counter argument so he gave up and agreed.

They laid side by side next to each other on Michael’s bed awkwardly.

“Do you think we’ll make it out of this week alive?” Michael asked, rolling onto his side to face Jeremy.

“I mean. Probably. I doubt we’ll get a lot of sleep though.”

“Yeah…”

But Michael couldn’t bring himself to mind being awoken by their crying child almost once every hour that night, because when he did Jeremy was pressed up against him, clinging to him like he was a lifesaver.


	2. Chapter 2

**Tuesday**

Michael’s alarm went off, as it always did, an hour before he had to be at school.

Jeremy groaned. “Is it really morning already.”

Michael opened his eyes to slits, saw the light pouring in from the window, and groaned as well. “Unfortunately.” He shifted slightly and snuggled into Jeremy’s chest.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, just breathing.

And then Stella started to cry again.

Michael jolted into a sitting position automatically, which disturbed Jeremy’s grasp around his middle.

Jeremy sat up slowly, his hair and clothes about as disheveled as he felt. “It’s your turn to rock her.”

Michael got out of the bed and picked up the crying doll. “You should probably grab a shower. We gotta go to school soon.” He informed him, rocking the doll gently.

“What about you?” Jeremy asked, stretching and crawling out of the bed.

“I’ll take one after you’re done.” He smirked. “Unless you want me to join you in there?”

Jeremy blushed a little. “I doubt there’s enough room in that shower for two people.”

“We could always find out.”

“Shut up!”

Michael’s laughter chased after him as he exited the room.

-

Michael was in the kitchen eating a smores poptart when Jeremy reappeared. He pushed a plate with an unopened package of poptarts across the table to Jeremy.

“What flavor?”

“Blueberry, just like you like. You heathen.”

Jeremy smiled. “Thanks.”

“I’m gonna set my alarm an hour earlier so we don’t have to rush and can have an actual breakfast tomorrow.” Michael told him.

“You want to wake up earlier? Aren’t we getting little enough sleep as it is?”

“I figure we have a couple days until we start to really feel its effects. Plus- breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We shouldn’t just be eating shitty poptarts if we want to be healthy and strong enough to take care of Stella.” Michael gestured at the baby laying on the cushion again with the poptart.

Jeremy didn’t have the energy to bring up again that it was just a doll. 

“Also, turned out she wanted to be fed earlier. So we’ll probably have to change her diaper soon or at school.”

“Oh, speaking of school. What are we going to do with her?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well we don’t have any classes together in the morning, so one of us is going to have to take her until lunch.”

“We can switch every day since we have her for four more days.”

“Ok.”

“I’ll take her today.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, man. I got this.” Michael smiled, confidently. “Plus you can take her for the afternoon classes until Home Ec.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Jeremy nodded.

Michael finished his poptart. “I’m gonna go shower and then we should probably leave.”

“Don’t drown.” Jeremy called after him.

“No promises.”

-

Jeremy had already packed the spare baby supplies and Michael’s homework into Michael’s bag by the time he was out of the shower and they made it to school on time. 

The only real incident Michael had, luckily, was when Stella needed to be changed in the middle of his first period class. It was awkward because the teacher sent him outside to ‘take care of that ruckus’ and everyone had turned to stare at him and the crying baby doll, of course. But he tamped down on the anxiety and made it through the period anyways.

Michael ran into Jeremy- almost literally- in the hall when he was on his way to lunch.

“Michael!”

“Jeremy! Sorry about that, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“It’s cool. Come on.”

Michael followed Jeremy to where the squip squad was sitting. 

“You sit down, I’ll go get you lunch, ok?” he wandered away before Michael could respond.

Michael looked at the group sitting at the table and they stared back. “Uh.”

Chloe scooted over and patted the bench beside her. “Well don’t just stand there daddy-o.”

Michael felt a rush of gratefulness and sat down.

“So what’s it like taking care of a baby?” Jenna asked, curiously.

“Tiring. Our little one has colic so she cries a lot during the night.”

The group made sympathetic noises.

“What’d you name her?” Christine asked, leaning forward intently. “Did you name her? Or did Jeremy? You didn’t let him name her something stupid, right?”

“We named her Stella. Cuz Jeremy is my sun and Stella is my little star.” Michael muttered, blushing.

It was a lot more awkward to tell these things to Jeremy’s friends than Jeremy, and he didn’t know why.

“That’s adorable!” Brooke gushed.

“Thanks.”

“So have you gotten with Jeremy, yet?” Rich asked, curiously.

“Sorry, what? I-” Michael blushed more

“It’s been like a month, I don’t see why you don’t go get him.” He continued, wrapping an arm around Jake and grinning. “Admitting it is the first step.”

Jake nodded. “Dude’s totally into you, you know? Everyone can see it.”

Michael shook his head, frantically. “He’s really not. He’s really into girls.”

“So? Bisexuality is a thing.” Rich pointed at himself. “You know he’s too stupid to admit it to you, right? You’re gonna have to man up and take the bull by the horns.”

“Whatever you’re doing with a bull, I hope you’re not bringing our child with you.” Jeremy interrupted, sitting next to Michael and sliding two trays onto the table. “Here I’ll take Stella.”

“Thanks.” Michael passed over the baby doll.

They shared a smile.

Chloe made vomiting noises at Brooke who giggled, but Jeremy didn’t notice, as he was adjusting his hold on Stella.

Michael glared at her and she just raised an eyebrow.

“I managed to get the last of the sweet and sour chicken nuggets that I know you like.” Jeremy told him. “But they didn’t have anymore pudding.”

“That’s ok. Thanks again.”

“Hey, no problem. I should be thanking you, really. I had a test I had forgotten about earlier and I don’t think I would have been able to pass if I had to worry about Stella.”

“You mean the English test?”

“Yeah.”

“Well it’s a good thing we studied for it last night.”

“We did?”

“Jeremy…”

“I think waking up so many times last night shook some of my brain cells loose.” Jeremy said, sheepishly. “Anyways, what have you guys been up to?” he asked the group.

“Nothing important, tell us more about your domestic bliss.” Brooke said, eagerly.

“What?” Jeremy blushed.

“Did you guys stay at the same place last night or something?” Jake asked.

“Yeah. I’m staying at Michael’s this week- just so we can take care of Stella together.”

“Are you sleeping together?” Chloe asked, bluntly.

Jeremy turned redder.

“You are!” Jenna laughed.

“Just sleeping!”

“That’s pretty gay, dude.” Rich told him.

“It’s a good thing I am, then.” Michael chipped in. 

“You’re all the worst.” Jeremy informed them.

-

By the time they got out of school, the boys had come to the conclusion that Home Economics was decidedly the worst class they had ever taken.

The class had watched a video of a live birth.

A couple of the boys in the class had left to throw up in the bathroom.

It was awful.

But they were finally free of the clutches of school for the day.

“Alright so we need to go to a public space and take a pic.”

“I need to buy groceries, so we could do that?”

“Sure. Anywhere else? We have to go to like four places.”

Michael hummed in thought. “Oh! I know! We could go to Target!”

“Why Target?”

“It has a baby section and a food section- we can take the pictures there.”

Jeremy tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Do you think it’ll count for two places if we take pictures in each section?”

Michael shrugged. “We can ask our teacher tomorrow if they both count. If they don’t then I guess we’ll just have to go more places this week. I mean I still need to get groceries so we might as well.”

“Alr-”

Stella interrupted them, crying again.

While Michael pulled out of the parking lot, Jeremy sighed and dug around in his backpack for the spare diaper and the bottle and propped the doll against his legs so he could change it.

When that didn’t silence her, he tried feeding her.

“I never thought I’d like silence so much.” Michael said, conversationally, as the crying cut off.

“Dude, right?”

-

They were in the baby section of Target.

Michael turned around, wearing a baby harness down his front. “Well? What do you think” He asked, grinning.

Jeremy looked him up and down, grimacing. He covered the doll’s eyes. “Don’t look, Stella, you’ll go blind.”

Michael pouted. “But! Do I look like a dad yet?”

Jeremy snorted. “Well you have more pants on than usual.”

Michael rolled his eyes and pulled the harness off, hanging it back on the rack. “Oh my god, Jeremy, look at this panda.” He held up a purple TY Beanie Boo panda. “I have to get this for Stella.”

Jeremy frowned. “Michael, we won’t be keeping her past the end of the week. You’ll just be wasting your money.”

Michael put it in the cart. “I want it anyways. Maybe we can give it to our real Stella one day.”

Jeremy side eyed Michael, but didn’t comment.

Michael knew he was being a little overbearing with pretending this whole situation was real, but he couldn’t help himself. He finally had an excuse to do so and he was going to milk it for all it was worth. He went an aisle over to look at baby clothes.

“ _I say all the right things_  
At exactly the right time  
But I mean nothing to you  
And I don’t know why”

He sang softly to himself, running a finger over one of the softer onesies.

“Sorry, what’d you say?” Jeremy asked, rounding the corner.

“Oh, I was just talking to myself.”

“About what?”

“Just… wouldn’t Stella look so cute in a bunny onesie?” he asked, pulling one off the rack in front of him.

“Yes! Do you think we could get her in it for the picture?”

Michael looked around them. “Probably. Let’s try.”

It took a little doing, but they got the doll in it and snapped a picture.

Michael took some extra pictures of Jeremy holding the bunny doll for his own records.

Jeremy looked at prices for diapers and clothes while Michael got the doll out of the onesie. “God everything is so expensive.”

“Babies are expensive.” Michael agreed, nodding. 

-

They were halfway through the chips aisle when Stella cried again. Jeremy frantically pulled out the spare diaper and changed her but she didn’t stop crying. 

Michael apologized to the people nearby who had stopped to stare at them as Jeremy rocked the doll. 

“Fuck, this is awkward.” Jeremy muttered to Michael as the crying finally stopped.

“You know, when she gets older we’ll have to stop swearing so much around Stella.”

Jeremy gave him a weird look.

“Do you think Stella would be a Doritos or Cheetos baby?” He continued on, holding out the bags of chips.

“Cheetos probably.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know. Doritos are kinda pointy? So I’d probably be wary of letting her eat them when she gets to solid foods. Also Cheetos are round and easy to pick up for babies, I’d think.”

Michael nodded. “You make a good point.” He placed both bags of chips in the cart anyways. “I just need to stock up on soda and then we can blow this popsicle stand.”

“Oh, take a picture before we forget!”

Michael positioned Jeremy and Stella so he could take a pic of them with the cart of food and snapped a picture. “The Great Chip Debate.” He informed Jeremy.

“It’s not really a debate if there was no debating.”

“Is it because you’re a master debater?” Michael teased.

Jeremy blushed and looked around to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. “Shut up, it’s not like you’re not a- a- a ‘master debater’, too.”

Michael just wiggled his eyebrows at him.

-

“Dude what the fuck is this?”

Michael looked up from Stella, who he was rocking to get her to stop crying. “What?”

Jeremy brandished his notebook. He had been rooting through it to compare notes and came across a page with crudely drawn stick figures.

The stick figures were holding hands, labeled ‘Jeremy’ and ‘Michael’ and a smaller stick figure with a lumpy doll blob labeled ‘Stella’.

“I got bored in class.” Michael admitted. 

Jeremy snorted. “It looks like something an older Stella would draw.”

Michael pouted. “Hey! I worked very hard on that.”

“Do you want me to put it on the fridge with the other baby pictures?” Jeremy teased.

“Well not anymore.” Michael continued to pout as he set Stella into her drawer crib.

“I’m just teasing, it’s very… cute.”

“Thanks.” Michael said dryly. 

Jeremy went back to flipping through the notebook. He was so focused, he didn’t even notice when Michael snapped a picture. He did, however, notice when Michael came up behind him and tried to pick-up-hug him.

Michael wasn’t strong enough to pick him up, though, and they half stumbled, wobbling precariously. 

“Michael!” Jeremy was exasperated.

They teetered, then fell onto Michael’s bed.

Michael took that opportunity to snuggle into Jeremy’s back.

“Are you happy with yourself?” Jeremy asked, sighing.

“Very.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Wednesday**

After another long night of Stella waking up every hour to cry, Jeremy was starting to look paler than usual.

Michael tried not to fret when Jeremy fell back asleep mere seconds after the alarm went off. He allowed himself a minute of happiness from being in Jeremy’s embrace before he pried himself from Jeremy’s strong grasp. He picked up Stella and the spare diaper and her bottle, and brought her out to the kitchen. “I’m going to make your daddy some breakfast so he has enough energy to make it through today.” He set her down on her cushion on the dining room table. “And the next time you cry I’ll feed you your milk so you can be big and strong like us!” He booped her nose.

Then he set to work making omelettes.

He was just pulling toast out of the toaster oven when Stella started crying again.

It felt like a miracle that feeding her made her silent again in less than a minute.

Michael plated the food, placed it on the table, then went back to his room.

He allowed himself a minute of staring at Jeremy’s sleeping form, sprawled out and rumpled. He looked smaller when he was asleep, though that was probably because he wasn’t standing up and looming over Michael with his extra height.

If they had been in a real relationship, Michael would have tried to wake him up with a kiss.

He had always wanted to try that with Jeremy.

But they were not, so he went over and shook his shoulder instead.

“Jeremy. Wakey wakey.”

Jeremy made a grumbling noise and tried to pull away.

“Oh no you don’t.” Michael rolled him back over. “You gotta wake up, Jeremy. We have school.”

“Don’t wanna.” Jeremy batted at Michael’s arm ineffectively.

“But you gotta.” He shook him a little more.

Finally, Jeremy cracked an eye open at him. “What time is it?”

Michael consulted his phone. “About an hour and a half before school. Come on, get up. I made breakfast.”

Jeremy sat up, groggily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Did you cook the poptarts or something?”

Michael snorted. “No. I made actual breakfast. I made omelettes.”

Jeremy perked up at that. “Egggggs.”

“Yes, eggs. Now get up. They’re getting cold.”

Jeremy crawled out of the bed and followed sedately after him. “Morning Stella.” He greeted the doll as he sat down.

Michael beamed at him. “I fed her a few minutes ago, so she probably won’t cry until around second period if you’re lucky.”

Jeremy groaned. “I forgot I had to take her with me today.”

“Are you going to be alright, you think? I can take her if yo-”

“No, no. It’s ok. I’ll be fine. I just forgot. Don’t worry, alright?” Jeremy interrupted, waving his fork.

“Are you sure? You seem really out of it today.”

Jeremy nodded. “I’m sure I’ll be fine after I take a shower. This is really good, by the way. Thank you.”

“Yeah? It’s just eggs and ham.”

“Eggs are the bomb diggity. But seriously, you must have been super tired, too. Thanks for taking the time to make breakfast.”

Michael moved over to put his hand on Jeremy’s. “For you, the world.”

Jeremy blushed and looked at his eggs, but didn’t move his hand away.

-

Michael looked up as Jeremy all but collapsed onto the table next to him.

He curled up over the baby doll in his arms and rested his head on the table.

“Are you ok?” He asked, rubbing his back.

“Please take Stella so I can die.” Jeremy replied, muffled by the table.

“Ok.” He poked at Jeremy’s side until he had sat back up again then took the doll.

“Were you good for your daddy, Stella?” He asked, glancing back at Jeremy.

Jeremy whimpered, curling back up on the table. “She cried during all four of my morning classes.”

“All of them? Wow.”

“You smell like Michael.” Christine said suddenly, from Jeremy’s other side.

“Uhh. I do?”

“I guess that makes sense, since you’re staying over at his place. You both smell like strawberries.” She continued, thoughtfully.

“Have you been using my shampoo, dude?”

Jeremy shrugged, which looked painful, considering he was still curled over the table. “Mine ran out. I figured you wouldn’t mind.”

“Nah, man. It’s cool.”

Rich and Jake shared a significant look before turning to stare at Michael, mouthing ‘gay’ at him.

Michael glared at them both.

“Can I die now, please?” Jeremy asked into the table.

“No. But you can probably take a nap until lunch is over. I skipped fourth period and went and got you a turkey sandwich from Seven Eleven if you want to eat, but it’s wrapped up so you could eat it whenever.” Michael informed him, taking a bite of his own tuna salad sandwich.

“Nap sounds good.” Jeremy nodded.

Michael reached over to rub his back again and it wasn’t long until he had passed out on the table.

“Please don’t wake your daddy.” Michael asked the baby doll.

“You two are really cute together.” Brooke stage whispered at him.

Michael blushed. “We’re not together.”

“Not with that attitude.” Chloe informed him, not bothering to stage whisper.

It didn’t seem to matter; Jeremy was soundly asleep.

“Do you want some advice, bro?” Jake asked.

“Uhh.” Michael said, succinctly.

“Chicks dig confidence. Just man up and ask him out already. He’ll definitely say yes.”

Michael scrunched up his face. “One, Jeremy isn’t a chick. Two, I’m not confident. Three, he’ll definitely say no if I asked him out.”

“Are you kidding. That kids is half in L-O-V-E love with you.” Jenna told him, not bothering to look up from her phone. “I don’t think I’ve ever met two people as willfully blind as you two.”

Michael spluttered. “Oh, sure, make fun of the kid with glasses. That’s original.”

She fixed him with a pointed stare. “Now you’re just being obtuse.”

“Listen. I really do appreciate the advice, guys, as misguided as it is, but Jeremy doesn’t like me.” He told them, a little louder than he had intended.

“Hmm?” Jeremy mumbled something from his spot on the table.

“What was that, Jeremy?” Rich asked.

“‘Course I like you, dude. You’re the best person I’ve ever met.” He mumbled louder.

Michael blushed as their friends laughed at him. “Thanks, buddy.”

-

Jeremy was a lot more chipper after his nap and was mostly awake when Michael drove them to McDonalds after school. He hadn’t found the time to eat the turkey sandwich Michael had gotten him so he ordered some fries to go with it and a drink while Michael got an M&M Mcflurry.

“I’m just saying, malted milk balls are better.” Jeremy waved his ketchup covered fry in the air, exasperatedly.

“No way, dude, they’re all crunchy except that one where it’s weirdly chewy. At least chocolate covered raisins are consistent.”

“But they’re raisins.”

“I don’t see how that’s a negative. Raisins are amazing.”

“They’re just pruney grapes.”

“Grapes are amazing, too! What is wrong with you?”

“Well I’m stupid enough to eat a super computer, so there’s that.” Jeremy joked, self-depricatingly.

Michael rolled his eyes.

“ _You called me strong_  
You called me weak  
But still your secrets i will keep  
You took for granted all the times i never let you down  
You stumbled in and bumped your head  
If not for me then you’d be dead  
I picked you up and put you back on solid ground”

He sang.

“I’m sorry, again, about being so horrible to you.” Jeremy said, as sincerely as possible.

Michael shook his head. “It’s in the past. I can’t say I’m not still mad about what you did, but I’m, like, not mad at you now. If that makes sense?”

Jeremy nodded.

“Hey- at least you weren’t dropped on your head as a baby.” He said, trying to break the tension.

“Speaking of which, we should take the picture.”

Michael crowded into Jeremy’s space so he could take the pic. He reviewed the picture and snickered. “Dude you got ketchup on the baby.”

“What? No I didn’t.”

“Well it certainly wasn’t me.” He pointed at the dried red paste on the baby doll’s cheek.

Jeremy ran a napkin over the perspiration on his soda cup and was about to rub the ketchup off when Michael caught his arm.

“Hang on, didn’t our teacher say that the babies have temperature sensors? You should probably not put cold soda water on her.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Michael looked dubious.

Jeremy sighed. “If I go to the bathroom and put warm water on the napkin, will you feel better?”

“Yes.”

“Then scoot.” He half pushed Michael out of the booth

Michael got out of the booth and held a hand out to help Jeremy out, too.

Jeremy just stared at his hand. “What?”

“I was going to help you up.”

“Oh.” He took the offered hand and let Michael pull him up.

Michael bowed and placed a kiss on Jeremy’s hand. “My liege.” He demurred.

“You are so weird. I don’t know why I’m friends with you.” Jeremy told him, the tips of his ears turning red.

“You love me and you know it.” Michael called after him.

When Jeremy came back, Michael hastily shoved a stolen fry into his mouth.

“Really, dude? You could have just asked.” Jeremy rolled his eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Michael said, getting out of the booth.

Jeremy slid back in and rubbed the ketchup off of Stella’s face. “There, all better.”

“Hey, at least we don’t have to bathe a real infant. My mom said I would never sit still when I was a baby.”

“Oh god. I don’t know if I’d have the patience to bathe a real baby.” Jeremy told him, eyes wide.

“Slippery little suckers. But not you, Stella, you’re such a good baby.” Michael cooed.

“Except for the crying at night.” Jeremy muttered.

“She can’t help that and you know it. You’d probably cry, too, if your insides hurt.”

“Probably.”

“I’d rock you back to sleep.”

“Aaand you’ve made it weird.”

-

“Really?” Jeremy asked, holding up Michael’s notebook.

Around the previous drawing, Michael had doodled little hearts with ‘J+M’ in them and he had thrown in a couple ‘Michael Heere’s for good measure.

“I refuse to apologize for art.” Michael said, haughtily.

Jeremy gave him a flat look. “You call this art?”

Michael gasped. “How dare you insult my masterpiece!”

“You literally drew stick figures and little hearts.”

“I am appalled at your crass analysis of my work. Utterly appalled.” He turned to face away from Jeremy.

Jeremy shook his head and went back to reviewing their notes.

Michael eventually turned back around. “You’re supposed to apologize.”

“I’m sorry your art is crap.” Jeremy said, not looking up from the notes.

Michael threw up his hands in exasperation. “This is why we don’t have sex anymore.”

“We were having sex? Was I conscious for it?” Jeremy asked, surprised.

“I just feel like you don’t love me anymore.” Michael continued, ignoring him and getting up. “Is it because I gained weight after we had Stella? Is it because of the stretch marks?”

“What the fuck.”

“Why don’t you love me anymore?”

Jeremy sighed. “And you didn’t want to join the school play because?”

Michael pouted. “You’re no fun.”

“Hah. I’m plenty of fun, if you know what I mean.” Jeremy wiggled his eyebrows.

“No, but I want to find out.” He sat on Jeremy’s lap.

“Oof. You’re heavy.”

“How very dare you.” Michael shook his head. “You can’t make up for a rotten personality by being excellent in bed.”

“No, but it certainly helps.”

Michael laughed, snuggling back into Jeremy.

“You’re not going to move, are you?” Jeremy wrapped an arm around Michael’s waist and propped his head on his shoulder so he could continue reading their notes.

“Nope.” Michael closed his eyes and sighed happily.

It didn’t take him long to fall asleep to the sounds of Jeremy’s pencil scratching notes onto one of their notebooks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Art by kylenuggs~ ](https://kylenuggs.tumblr.com/post/162438601564/chef-michaels-apron)


	4. Chapter 4

**Thursday**

That morning, Michael was woken up by his alarm. 

He groaned and poked at his phone to turn it off.

Jeremy made a disgruntled whining noise that was entirely too cute into his shoulder.

Michael seriously contemplated setting another alarm for thirty minutes later, but knew it would probably just make him want to sleep even more. He dragged himself out of bed, trying his hardest to not wake up Jeremy, and shuffled to the bathroom so he could splash some cold water on his face to help wake himself up.

It didn’t help. It mostly just made his face wet.

He sighed and towelled his face dry.

Slowly, he shuffled into the hallway, then the kitchen, and opened the fridge, staring at its contents like they held the answers to the universe.

Eventually he was chilled enough by the refrigerated air that he shivered and closed the door.

“Bagels.” He muttered to himself, “Bagels are easy.” He didn’t think he was awake enough to be able to cook anything more complicated.

He pulled two bagels out of the breadbin, sliced them, and stuck them in the toaster oven.

After a minute he checked on them and was embarrassed to find he had forgotten to turn it on. 

He went back to the fridge for cream cheese and butter- for some reason Jeremy had a vendetta against cream cheese- but was waylaid by the sound of faint crying.

He set down the spreads and rushed back to his basement.

By the time he had gotten there, though, Jeremy had already picked up the doll and was rocking it back and forth, his eyes still mostly closed.

“Sorry, I forgot to bring her with me.”

Jeremy shrugged as the crying cut off. “I got it.”

“I’m toasting bagels if you want to eat.”

“Ok. Let me just-” He yawned, “-pack Stella’s things.”

Michael watched as he swayed a little where he stood, before he shook himself and started to gather the doll’s supplies. He went back to the kitchen and prepared the bagels. He was startled when Jeremy came up behind him and hugged him, resting his head on his shoulder.

“ ‘m so sleepy.” he complained, burrowing into Michael’s neck.

Michael was frozen- it was rare for Jeremy to be so affectionate unprompted.

“Christine was right. You smell like strawberries.”

“Thanks?”

Jeremy hummed.

“Uh. Here’s your bagel?” Michael offered, holding up a paper plate with the buttered bagel.

“Thanks.” Jeremy gave him a squeeze before taking the plate and drawing away to sit down at the table.

Michael felt himself get a little giddy at Jeremy’s free affection. 

Even though he was still groggy, he felt that the day was off to a good start.

-

After school, they went to the public library to take a picture to prove they had been out of the house.

Michael had also wanted to take a look at baby books.

“When you said you wanted to look at baby books, I was under the impression you meant how to care for baby books, not books for babies.”

“When you assume…” Michael teased.

“Well at least we’re asses together.”

Michael shot him a smile and stood up. “I almost forgot, we need to take a picture here.”

That almost got them in trouble; apparently you weren’t allowed to have your phone out in the library.

When the librarian went back to whatever they were doing at the front desk, Michael went back to perusing the shelves of the children’s section of books.

Jeremy continued to watch as Michael searched. Finally he asked, “Are you looking for a specific book?”

“Yep.”

“What book? I’ll help you look.”

“It’s a secret. Besides, you’d have to get all the way out of the clouds to look through these books and you’re already holding Stella.” He reasoned, gesturing at Jeremy to indicate his height.

It was probably true; the bookshelves holding the children’s books barely came up to Jeremy’s hip.

“Man, do you remember when we were obsessed with Clifford?” Michael asked, holding up one of the Clifford books he had found.

“He was a giant puppy, of course we were obsessed. That’s a fucking awesome concept.”

“Right? Why aren’t our books that cool?”

“Probably because we’re of the age we’re supposed to be reading about more ‘adult’ things.”

“That’s bullshit.” Michael muttered.

“If ‘adult’ books were more entertaining I might actually read them for fun like we used to.”

Michael grinned. “I think you get plenty enough ‘adult’ entertainment, Jeremy.”

“Shut up, you have no room to talk.”

“I’m not-” But whatever he was not was cut off by Stella crying.

Everyone in the library turned to them and Jeremy turned red. “I’m gonna go take her out to the lobby.”

“Ok.” Michael responded to Jeremy’s fleeing back.

It only took him a few more minutes to locate the book he wanted, and he pulled it out with a triumphant smile.

He made his way to the front desk where one of the librarians was checking in books.

“Did you find everything ok?” He asked.

“Yep.”

“Were you with the kid with the crying baby doll?” he asked as Michael handed over his library card.

“Yeah. It’s a school project.”

“It’s cool that they assigned you a same sex pair to take care of the baby. In my day they would have never allowed that.”

Michael blushed. “We got to pick our pairing. I didn’t actually think they’d let us, but our teacher didn’t say anything about it.”

“Well, good luck with your project.” He handed over Michael’s card and the book.

“Thanks.”

Michael went out to the lobby to find Jeremy slumped on a bench, cradling Stella and half asleep. “Hey, let’s go home and you can nap.”

Jeremy startled. “I was just resting my eyes, I swear!”

“I believe you.” Michael laughed.

“Besides, we have to go to the post office first, remember?”

“Oh right. The two pictures at Target didn’t count.”

“That and my dad is running out of stamps.”

-

Their trip to the post office was uneventful. Stella didn’t cry, they took their picture, and then they stood in line for ten minutes to get the stamps.

Afterwards they went home and decided to forgo video games for homework.

“If my parents were here, they’d be proud of how studious I’m being.” Michael joked.

“Semi-studious.” Jeremy said, eyeing Michael.

Instead of actually doing his homework, he was back to doodling stick figures in his notebook.

“What are you drawing now?”

Michael pushed the notebook to him.

“It’s… an aquarium?”

“What? No. It’s our wedding.”

“Those look like bubbles.” Jeremy said, pointing at the lumpy bubble-esque drawings.

“They’re flowers!”

Jeremy tilted his head. “What kind of flower looks like that?”

“My flowers. Apparently.”

“Hm. Still looks like bubbles to me. We should have an underwater wedding. Like. Some aquariums have those walkways that are under the tanks.”

Michael nodded. “That’d be super cool.” He doodled a shark.

“I’m not even going to try to guess what that is.”

“It’s a shark! Look, there’s the teeth.”

“Are you high? That looks nothing like a shark.”

“I would never get high when in charge of an infant.” Michael swore, appalled.

“Really?”

“Really! I wouldn’t be able to do that if I was in charge of another being’s life. Plus second hand smoke kills, you know?”

“Does it count if it’s weed?”

“I… I don’t know. But it’s still smoke isn’t it?”

“I guess.”

“My point is. That’s a shark, and you clearly have no appreciation for fine art.”

“Clearly.”

“I’m bored. This homework is boring.”

“Well what do you want to do, then? And you can’t say video games because we’ll just get distracted and then our homework will never get done.”

“Oh! I should read you the book.”

“Book?”

“Yeah, the one I checked out at the library.” He pulled it out of his backpack. “Ta Da~”

“Stellaluna?”

“Stellaluna! It’s about a bat. It was one of my favorite stories when I was really little. It’s part of the reason I picked Stella’s name! I’ll read it to you.”

Jeremy sat back in his chair.

“ _In a warm and sultry forest far, far away, there once lived a mother fruit bat and her new baby._ ”

-

Michael had gotten out of bed to go to the bathroom at around two in the morning. 

When he returned to his room he was greeted with crying and a heartbreaking sight.

Jeremy was curled up on the bed against the wall, rocking Stella, with tears streaming down his face. 

Stella had been waking up every hour since about eight that night and it seemed all of the sleep deprivation had gotten to Jeremy.

“Here, let me do that.” Michael reached over and took the baby doll from Jeremy.

“I already tried to feed and change her. But she won’t stop crying.”

Michael rocked her for a minute until the crying cut off, then he went to put the baby doll back in her ‘crib’. “Hey, are you ok?” Michael asked, as Jeremy was still crying softly.

“I’m going to be an awful father.” Jeremy replied, voice cracking. He started sobbing quietly.

Michael crawled onto the bed to hug him. “You are going to be a wonderful father.”

“But I- I can’t even handle a little lack of sleep. It’s only been four days, Michael. How would I be able to do this for real?”

“Well first of all, I don’t think anyone could blame you for needing sleep. It’s kinda important. And second of all, a real baby probably wouldn’t cry every hour on the hour in the middle of the night. I hope. And third of all you’ll probably have a wonderful partner, like me, to help you with the baby care. Remember, you’re not in this alone.”

Jeremy nodded, and sniffled. “How’d you get to be so awesome?”

“I was born that way.”

Jeremy snorted.

“Do you feel better?”

“A little.”

“Is there anything I can do to make you feel better? Like. Get a glass of water or something?”

“C-could you sing to me?”

Michael blinked. “You want me to sing?”

“Sorry. You don’t have to! I’m just being silly, ignore me.” He said, brushing tears off his face with the back of his hands.

“I’ll sing to you! I was just surprised, is all.” He cleared his throat as he tried to think of a song.

“ _And he swears there’s nothing wrong_  
I hear him playing that same old song  
He puts me up and puts me on  
Had a bad day again”

Jeremy smiled. “You went with Fuel? Really?”

Michael shrugged. “What? I thought the song was appropriate.”

“Maybe a little.”

“I’ll go get you that water, ok? Don’t want you to get dehydrated from crying, of all things.”

“Ok.” Jeremy said in a small voice.

When he got back with the water, Jeremy chugged it.

“Whoa, don’t hurt yourself, kid.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Uhm. Can I ask a favor?”

“Sure, what is it?”

Jeremy blushed. “Could you hold me?”

Michael stammered for a couple seconds, completely thrown. “Yeah! I mean. Sure. Ok.” He crawled back into bed and Jeremy moved so he was laying down again.

Michael hesitantly snuck an arm across Jeremy’s middle and pulled him closer. He tucked his face in the back of Jeremy’s neck.

Christine was right; Jeremy did smell like his shampoo.

He listened as Jeremy’s breathing evened out and he fell asleep but it was a long while before he followed suit.


	5. Chapter 5

**Friday**

Michael fell back asleep almost immediately after he turned off his alarm.

Jeremy didn’t even wake up to the alarm.

It was the piercing rays of the sun that alerted Michael that something was off. When it finally registered, he shot up, accidentally using Jeremy as leverage to propel himself up.

“Oww.” Jeremy complained, rubbing his side.

“Jeremy we’re late for school.”

“What? But it’s only- oh. Shit.”

Michael scrubbed the sleep from his face. “We’re probably going to miss all of first period.”

Jeremy sighed. “Why don’t we just skip the whole day and sleep instead?” He suggested.

“Because we have to give Stella back today.”

“Oh. Is it really Friday?”

“Don’t sound so excited.” Michael teased.

“Gotta get down on-”

“No.”

“Can we at least grab coffee somewhere before we go to class?”

“I guess five minutes to grab coffee probably won’t matter that much in the long run.” Michael agreed.

-

They ended up getting to school in time for second period and the rest of their day went smoothly until finally they were once again in Home Economics. The entire class was subdued, most of the students half asleep with big black bags under their eyes.

Their teacher instructed them to turn in the baby dolls.

Michael made a big show of saying goodbye to Stella.

“Dude, are you crying?”

“No, I just have dust in my eyes.” Michael denied.

“It’ll be ok.” Jeremy patted him on the back. “Here, I’ll hand her in, ok? Give me your strap.”

Michael took the strap off his hand and handed it over. “You’ll grow up perfect.” He told the baby doll. “I love you my little star.”

Jeremy gently tugged the doll out of his hands and brought it and all of the supplies up to the teacher.

Michael took a minute to compose himself. He took out his notebook and began doodling a picture of the large family he wanted to have with Jeremy.

“That’s adorable but I think six children is a little excessive.” Jeremy said, coming back to the desk. “Also, we’re supposed to be filling out the ‘How did the project go compared to your expectations’ part of the form.”

“There was a lot more crying than I expected. Like. I mean I expected a lot. But there was more than that.”

Jeremy nodded. “I was surprised to be doing some of the crying.”

“I’m not.”

“Hey!”

“Face it Jeremy, you’re a bit of a crybaby.”

“I’m sorry are you looking at a picture of yourself because I’m not the one who cries when tv shows get sad.”

“Yeah but you cry at Disney movies.”

“Everyone cries at Disney movies! They’re designed to make you cry!”

“Sure they do.”

“Anyways,” Jeremy said, glaring, “I didn’t expect you to get so attached.”

“I did. They had us name her; of course I’d get attached.”

“I didn’t expect to miss holding her. It feels kinda weird that we no longer have to take care of her now.”

“Let’s have another.” Michael joked.

“No. Not anytime soon. I’m too young to be having these kinds of crises.”

They turned in their form and were allowed to leave early.

-

Michael took a picture of Jeremy when they were sitting in his bedroom on his bed.

“What’s that for?”

“What, I can’t take a picture of my husband, now?”

“We don’t have Stella anymore. You can stop pretending we’re married now.”

“Oh. Right.” Michael’s face fell. “I can stop… pretending.”

Jeremy heard the pain in Michael’s voice and turned to him. “Michael? What is it?”

Michael hesitated but finally opened his mouth and sang,

“ _I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend_  
You could cut ties with all the lies  
That you’ve been living in  
And if you do not want to see me again,  
I would understand”

“What-”

“I don’t want to stop pretending. I mean. I do. I mean.” He looked over at Jeremy. “I don’t want to just pretend to be in a relationship with you.” He swallowed. “I want to be in a relationship with you.”

Jeremy gaped at him.

Michael looked at him expectantly, waiting for his response.

Jeremy cleared his throat.

“ _I know who i want to take me home_ ”

Michael nodded sadly. “Of course I’ll take you home. I’m sorry. I hope we can still be friends and-”

“No, Michael.”

“No? We can’t be friends?” Michael started to tear up. He felt like his whole world was ending.

“No! Of course we can still be friends! I meant- I want to be in a relationship with you, too. I want you to take me home with you.” Jeremy explained.

“O-oh.” He sniffled a little and wiped at his eyes.

Jeremy sighed. “Maybe quoting song lyrics at each other is a little too ambiguous, in hindsight.”

“Nah. It got us here, didn’t it?”

“True. I gotta be honest with you, though. I never thought of you that way until this week. So this is very new to me and I hope you don’t get mad at me if I react badly to stuff.”

“What do you mean? What would I get mad about?”

“I don’t know. Like... if someone calls us gay? I’ll probably not be very happy about that.”

“Well, in that scenario they are using it as an insult, so it’s pretty understandable.”

“And I don’t know if I’m going to be a very good b-boyfriend. The only experience I’ve had with it was Brooke and the squip dictated most of that and then that week with Christine.”

“If you hadn’t noticed, Jeremy, I have absolutely no experience being a good boyfriend. So you’re still winning.”

Jeremy nodded but still looked troubled.

Michael smiled and scooted closer. “Hey,” he said, conversationally, “did you know I can hold the whole universe in my hands?”

He placed his hands on either side of Jeremy’s face.

Jeremy turned bright red and spluttered a little.

Michael leaned in slowly, giving him time to pull away.

But Jeremy leaned in, too, and they kissed each other softly. He could feel Michael smile in his kiss.

Michael lowered his hands to rest on Jeremy’s on the bed.

Jeremy pulled away suddenly and yawned. “Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly. “This is good and all- wonderful, really. But I’m kinda sleepy.”

“Yeah, I’m exhausted too.” Michael laughed a little. “Want to take a nap for a while?”

“God yes.” Jeremy pressed a chaste kiss to Michael’s lips before they pulled away from each other to get settled in the bed.

“I still miss Stella.” Michael mourned. “I want a baby.”

“Whoa, now, it’s a little early in the relationship to be talking about kids, isn’t it?”

“I meant in general. I want to have a kid. When we’re older.”

“I wonder if we’ll still be together when we’re older- even if just as friends.” Jeremy mused, snaking his arms around Michael and snuggling closer.

“If I have anything to do with it, we will. At the very least we’ll get to college together.”

“We’ll be cool in college?”

“We will rule in college.” Michael told him, confidently. “I should major in photography.”

“Oh? I didn’t know you lik-”

“Because I can picture us together.”

Jeremy groaned and buried his face in Michael’s neck. “I hate you.”

Michael patted one of Jeremy’s hands in sympathy. “I know.”

Jeremy caught his hand and laced their fingers together. “I’m really happy. And that’s not just the delirium speaking.”

Michael felt squeezed Jeremy’s hand, a warm feeling in his chest spreading over him. “Me too.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> The songs referenced in this fic are:  
> Drive by Incubus  
> Buddy Holly by Weezer  
> Say It Ain’t So by Weezer  
> Beverly Hills by Weezer  
> Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon  
> Kryptonite by Three Doors Down  
> Bad Day by Fuel  
> Jumper by Third Eye Blind  
> Closing Time by Semisonic
> 
> [ Art by Ryan! ](http://dryangon.tumblr.com/post/162026686056/dude-gross-not-in-front-of-the-baby-if-u-have)
> 
> Feel free to hit me up on tumblr ([ acindra ](http://acindra.tumblr.com))- I also made a crocheted doll of [ Michael! ](http://acindra.tumblr.com/post/161391774925)
> 
> [ Bonus George Salazar and Michael!Doll pic ](https://twitter.com/georgesalazar/status/880209460962185216)


End file.
